A Fictional Account of the Very Real Slaughter of Thousands

Edwige Danticat's second novel, The Farming of Bones, shows her growth as a writer from the time of the publication of her Oprah-book club bestseller, Breath, Eyes, Memory. Breath was an amazing book in and of itself from this Haitian American newcomer to the literary scene--but where it had "master's thesis" written all over it, Farming has character development, historical research, and dramatic realism in its place.

Hispaniola is an interesting place with a volatile history. On the west side is Haiti, a former French colony that attained independence through the first ever successful slave revolt, with a culture formed from the "hybridized religious universe" of native peoples, Africans, and Catholic French. The east side is the Dominican Republic--a place where General Rafael Molino Trujillo, the military dictator from 1930 claimed the inhabitants came from mighty Spain...whereas the Haitians came from "darkest Africa". When many Haitians entered the Dominican Republic for work in the cane fields and beyond, Trujillo and many Dominicans felt threatened by their increasing numbers. Longstanding disputes between the Haitian government and the Dominican over land and immigration escalated their animosities. In Danticat's tale--and in actual history--Trujillo implores the Dominicans to prevent the Haitians from running the Dominicans out of their own country. The year was 1937 and over ten thousand Haitians--men, women, and children--were slaughtered before they could escape.

Danticat's story focuses on Amabelle and Sebastian. Amabelle is a house servant to a prestigious, wealthy military family of General Pico in the Dominican Republic, and also takes the role of midwife to his wife, Senora Valencia. There is a deep bond formed between Senora Valencia and Amabelle, which will be tested by the decree from Generalissimo Trujillo, to whom General Picos is absolutely devoted.

Sebastian cuts cane, which is called "farming bones" among those who do the intense, painful work. He has the markes of a cane cutter all over his body. Amabelle escapes to his hut by the river at night, or else he comes to her, for in their poverty and suffering, they share a love that is as intense as the backbreaking farming of bones.

When the decree comes from Trujillo to slaughter the Haitians, Amabelle has a heads-up because of her location. She warns Sebastian and the other villagers, and they begin to make their way out of the Dominican Republic, through the dangerous jungles and mountains to the Haitian border. Along the way they encounter others trying to escape...and those trying to keep them from escaping. Amabelle's route to "freedom" is absorbing though horrific. Through her eyes the reader experiences a truly terrifying journey, and a protaganist that is forced to sacrifice so much in order to survive.

It is a rare book that makes me physically emotional, but this is one that does. Danticat spares the reader any "preachy" lectures (not that there isn't a lot to preach about in terms of this genocide) and sticks to the story, set against the backdrop of historical facts. She doesn't pigeonhole the entirity of Dominicans of the period as genocidal worshippers at the alter of Trujillo, just as she never claims Haitian moral superiority. While Breath has it's own share of insightful, historically contexed thoughts on both the joys and horrors of the Haitian diasporic experience, it can't compare in quality of writing to Farming.

All in all, this is a great book to pick up a bit of Caribbean history, and an awful lot of great story telling.


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If you'd like to read some articles on Breath, Eyes, Memory, please visit:

http://www.geocities.com/chadofborg/breatheyesmemory.html

and

http://www.geocities.com/chadofborg/breatheyesmemoryvaudou.html